Following the recent revelation that Sunny Deol’s highly anticipated partition saga Lahore 1947 has been officially renamed Batwara, new details have emerged about the high-profile deal behind the title change. Insiders reveal that the legal rights to the name rested entirely with the family of the late veteran producer Salim Akhtar. To secure it, producer Aamir Khan personally intervened, bypassing standard corporate channels for a more intimate and respectful approach.
The creative team behind the film was unanimously against keeping the original name, Lahore 1947. They initially locked in Batwara 1947 as the new name, but later concluded that removing the year and keeping it simply as Batwara would carry a much stronger emotional punch. However, retaining just the single word meant they faced a legal hurdle, as they needed to purchase the intellectual property rights from Salim Akhtar’s estate, which had produced the iconic 1989 multi-starrer film of the same name.
To make the deal happen, veteran filmmaker Karim Morani stepped in to arrange a meeting between Aamir Khan and Salim Akhtar’s son, Samad Akhtar. Rather than meeting at a corporate office, Aamir personally visited the Akhtar residence to meet Samad and his mother, Shama. During the very fruitful visit, Aamir fondly recalled his wonderful experience working with the late Salim Akhtar on the 1995 action-thriller Baazi. He then explained the core subject of his upcoming film and why the title Batwara was the absolute perfect fit for the narrative.
Moved by his passion and respect, the Akhtar family agreed to sell the official title rights to Aamir Khan Productions for an undisclosed amount. On March 8, Samad Akhtar confirmed the private meeting on social media by sharing a photo with the superstar. He noted that Aamir blew the family away with his deep passion and knowledge of cricket, prompting Samad to gift him a jersey from his premium sports outlet, 7S Sports World.
This historic name connects the new project to a rich Bollywood lineage. The original 1989 classic was directed by J.P. Dutta and featured a massive star cast including Dharmendra, Vinod Khanna, Dimple Kapadia, and Amrita Singh. The upcoming 2026 juggernaut is being directed by Rajkumar Santoshi and features an ensemble cast of Sunny Deol, Preity Zinta, Ali Fazal, Karan Deol, and Shabana Azmi, alongside a supporting cameo by Aamir Khan himself. The highly awaited period drama is currently on track to set the box office ringing when it hits theaters nationwide during the lucrative Independence Day release window this August.
